People v. Ford
Annotate this CaseIn 1981, Barcelon was found dead in the basement of her San Francisco apartment building, her underwear around her ankles and jeans near her body. The Chief Medical Examiner during the 2012 trial, testified, based on physical observations in the autopsy report and photographs, that Barcelon’s death was a homicide by manual strangulation and that there were injuries consistent with sexual assault. DNA testing performed in 2003 on vaginal and rectal swabs collected during the autopsy, revealed sperm from the same person. An oral swab of Ford was a match. Ford’s cousin stated that at the time of Barcelon’s murder, Ford was staying very near Barcelon’s apartment. The prosecution submitted evidence of prior sexual offenses committed by Ford. Ford challenged the reliability of the autopsy specimens and DNA analysis, and noted that Barcelon’s panties and jeans were misfiled with another case at the police department until 2005. A jury found Ford guilty of first degree murder (Pen. Code 187) and found true a special circumstance allegation that he committed the murder while engaged in the crime of rape (190.2(a)(17)(C)). The court of appeal rejected challenges to certain evidence under the confrontation clause, modified the judgment to correct an error in sentencing credits, and otherwise affirmed.
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